Pages

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Two-Of-A-Kind

Rekers was a founder of the Family Research Council until the scandal broke, but he has now been erased from their website.

Rekers was a professor at the University of South Carolina, but search its website today and you'll find he no longer exists there.

Rekers was a member of NARTH [National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality] but has resigned and is no longer on their website, save for his "I am not gay" stance.

But then we have the other fallout; the Bill McCollum fallout.

McCollum is running for governor of Florida, but as soon as the story broke that his one-time expert witness, one George Rekers, for Florida's gay adoption trial was photographed traveling with a male escort from RentBoy.com, McCollum began distancing himself from Reverend George Rekers with a series of misleading statements in an effort to spread the blame. But, as is always the case with those who do the wrong thing and then lie about it, the truth comes out.

While McCollum now says he didn't want Rekers to testify, letters from 2007 are surfacing which show that it was the Department of Children and Families [DCF] who initially declined to use Reker's expertise, and expressed concern over his outrageous fees, but it was Bill McCollum who personally and aggressively pushed Rekers as a witness.

In one letter, McCollum wrote, "I believe that this expert and his testimony are necessary to ensure a successful result in this case." McCollum also rejected DCF's plan to spend taxpayer money on the expert witness, and his own Department of Legal Affairs paid George Rekers over $120,000, even though DCF only agreed to pay $60,900.

Here is a little Fiction v Fact from the Florida Democrats website:

FICTION: McCollum "defended his agency's handling of the case, and steered the blame toward the Department of Children and Families, which he said hired him. 'I think our team's done what it should do,' he said. 'We've been defending the Constitution of the state and we've been representing the Department of Children and Families, who hired him and paid him and needed expert witnesses and he was available and credentialed.'" Story HERE.

FACT: Attorney General Bill McCollum personally urged that the state hire George Rekers, the anti-gay psychologist. Story HERE.

FICTION: McCollum implied that DCF was to blame in a statement to the press: "The contract was executed at the direction of the Department of Children and Families" without any mention of the 2007 disagreement. Story HERE.

FACT: DCF said they were concerned about the potential costs of Rekers' testimony. In a July 2007, letter, DCF's chief wrote to McCollum: "Due to declining state revenues, this department is under a mandate to reduce its budget by a minimum of $72 million this year. As such I am reluctant to an open-ended contract which could, as you point out, result in an obligation" over $60,900. Story HERE.

FACT: DCF agreed to McCollum's team hiring Rekers as long as the cost was limited to $60,900--Rekers was paid over $120,000. Story HERE.

FICTION: McCollum's office found that "Rekers was so embarrassing, even back in 2008, that McCollum's office blamed DCF for finding him. That infuriated a DCF official, who said the Attorney General's Office found him, which McCollum now confirms." Story HERE.

FACT: McCollum, in a letter, agreed that DCF initially refused to hire Rekers, mainly due to the exorbitant cost of his services, and instead DCF wanted to hire Walter Schumm, a professor of family studies at Kansas State University. McCollum wrote: 'Dr. Schumm is a good expert, but his areas of expertise are different from Dr. Rekers.' Story HERE.

Keep lying, McCollum, It only shows how much you and George Rekers are two-of-a-kind.